


debit or credit

by ProfessionalMess



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Fluff, Forming Bonds, I guess???, M/M, Shance Love Bang 2020, awkward moments, he can turn into a cat, kano and lance become friends, kano gets him and shiro into some trouble, kind of, lance works the graveyard shift at a bar, named kano, pls read i promise it makes more sense than these tags do, shiro is a shapeshifter, the fic explains it better, these tags are gonna be wild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:08:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22725190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfessionalMess/pseuds/ProfessionalMess
Summary: Usually, the snippets of memories Shiro was allowed to see from Kano’s adventures every night were nothing extraordinary. There were flashes of black-blue sky, flashes of the brown-orange concrete lit by orange street lamps, flashes of other animals and stumbling human feet at a distance and occasionally the blue-black green-black of a dumpster when he went foraging. But lately, they’d been different. Lately, they’d been flashes of the same half-lit alleyway, the same milk crate, the same rusted metal backdoor. There’d been flashes of red and white checkered food trays and the same pair of beat up sneakers, fond memories of warm, brown hands and kind, brown eyes. It felt so familiar to him, everything about it. The memories danced around behind his eyelids and tingled in the back of his brain, screaming at him that he knew that place and he knew that face and he’d seen of it all before. But he just… couldn’t put his finger on it, no matter how many times he played the snippets over in his brain.
Relationships: Lance/Shiro (Voltron), lance & kano, who is a cat
Comments: 10
Kudos: 45





	debit or credit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thatsformetoknow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsformetoknow/gifts).



> hello and welcome to my very first shance fic!!! this was written for the 2020 Shance Bang, and doubles as an almost entire year late birthday present for my best friend and the love of my life [olivia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsformetoknow/pseuds/thatsformetoknow). i hope u enjoy!

Shiro had long since gotten used to the fact that he had to share. 

When he was younger, he had fought with himself, had tried everything he could to always be the one in control. Because it made sense, didn’t it? They were living in a man’s world, it was only logical that the man be the face the world saw. But Shiro’s…  _ other side,  _ which he hadn’t learned to question until he was old enough to realize that his was not a common occurrence _ ,  _ didn’t see it that way. Shiro’s insistence to be in control had only lead to a handful of unfortunate and poorly-timed mishaps that neither of them particularly felt like repeating. 

Even after all these years, Shiro wasn’t exactly sure how to refer to himself _ — _ or to the separate consciousness that shared his head. He supposed he could probably be considered a shapeshifter or something along the same lines, but no one he’d ever come across or shared his secret with had ever been able _ — _ or really  _ tried,  _ for that matter _ — _ to put a name to it, so Shiro hadn’t really worried himself with it. He figured as long as he had the intricacies of his life worked out and his second side wasn't bothering anyone, it didn’t really matter what he called it. To him, he was just a twenty-five-year-old man that could turn into a cat and had a very persistent consciousness to go along with the body. 

It wasn’t hard for him to understand, but it was hard for him to explain. So for the most part, he didn’t. He’d never really had to tell his family, they just knew, and he’d only ever had one friend he felt comfortable enough with to let in on the secret. He hadn’t made any new friends in a long time, hadn’t introduced any new people into his life in quite a few years, and it took a lot of the stress of his situation off his shoulders, knowing that inevitable conversation wasn’t hovering over his head. He quite liked it, actually, not having anyone new to worry about. It almost took the fun out of meeting new people, knowing there was a probably slim chance they’d stick around once they knew what he was capable of. 

And all that meant was that after years of refining, compromising, trial and error, and determination, Shiro’s life looked a lot like this: wake up (usually in his own bed, hadn’t had a surprise awakening in a while now), go to work, get off work, come home, eat dinner, waste time until bed, fall asleep. And once he was asleep, that was when Kano came out. That was the best system they could come up with, after years of brainstorming. Because they couldn’t both claim the daylight hours, and since Shiro was human and day was the best time for him to do human things like go to work and buy groceries, they agreed that he could be in charge during the day and the cat, Kano, would linger impatiently in the back of his mind until it was his turn. 

Shiro didn’t know much about what the transition was like, considering it always took place while he was asleep. He didn’t know much about his time spent as a cat, either, considering his brain was being invaded by an entirely separate consciousness while his own slept soundlessly, completely undisturbed. All he knew was that he’d asked Kano to not get into any trouble, and to make sure Shiro woke up in his bed each morning. As long as that happened, Shiro was happy to relinquish nighttime control to him.

Shiro never regained much more than bluish black blurs of memory that never quite felt like his own each morning he woke, but it didn’t bother him much. There wasn’t much he could get up to that Shiro would have a problem with, and it wasn’t up to him, anyway. As long as Kano was sticking to the terms, Shiro didn’t feel the need to worry himself over what had taken place. 

So he got ready for bed the way he always did and slipped under the sheets (naked, since Kano didn't like finding his way out of Shiro’s clothes), setting his alarm for the next morning and closing his eyes as he slowly sank into sleep.

Kano let out a soft meow as he slowly unfurled his body and blinked the sleep from his eyes, batting the sheet away from his head. Shiro’s room looked the same way it always did—neat, organized, barely decorated—but things like that were the least of Kano’s concerns. He spared the room barely a glance as he got to his feet and stretched out his front paws, warming up his muscles that had gone unused since the night before. 

He flicked the tip of his tail as he straightened back up, hopping down from the mattress and landing on his feet with a soft thud. His paws padding against the carpeted floor was the only sound that could be heard in Shiro’s apartment as he made his way to the living room, towards the window Shiro always left open for him. He scaled the arm of the couch just for fun and pranced along the back of it, jumping over the small gap between it and the window sill. The window barely scraped along his back as he darted outside, landing with a more metallic sounding thud on the fire escape. But he didn't stop to do much more than register it, kept moving downwards until his paws were back on solid ground, cold and wet beneath his toes. 

He sat back on his haunches then, taking a moment to lick over his front paws in turn and take in the sights, sounds, and smells of the city. The alley between Shiro’s apartment building and the building next door was empty as always, save for a few dumpsters positioned near the opening and random pieces of trash skittering along the ground, caught up in the gentle pull of the wind. He could hear sirens sounding in the distance, the soft drip of water hitting the pavement somewhere behind him, the rustle of paper wrappers as they blew past him. He couldn’t smell much beyond the stench of exhaust blowing from the building next door, but he knew from experience the way they city would open up around him as soon as he left the alley.

So Kano got back to his feet and moved towards the mouth of the alleyway, keeping to the shadows. He preferred to go unseen, because humans had a thing about touching that he didn't particularly appreciate and it was easier for him to keep himself hidden than it was to endure a fearless human and their heavy, assuming hand. So he kept close to the shadows and hugged the walls of buildings as he moved, never venturing too far into plain sight and always looking around carefully before darting across uncovered sections of concrete. 

Despite how much time Kano spent exploring it, he didn't know much about navigating the city. There was always just a strangely alluring pull in a certain direction, and if Kano followed it, it would wind him through the city streets all night long until eventually leading him back to Shiro’s cold, empty bed before the sun had fully risen. So he figured he didn't need to pay much attention to where he was going or where it took him, as long as he had the pull to follow. 

And tonight, just like every night, the pull was there, leading him away from Shiro’s apartment and into the city. There were things he recognized, obviously, like buildings and street signs and phone booths stationed on the edge of the sidewalk. But it seemed as if the city shifted and changed every time he saw it, so he didn't bother to try and commit any of it to memory. He just walked, let the pull guide him, knew that no matter how far he traveled or which roads he took, he’d always be able to find his way home.

Usually, the pull took him along pretty close to the same route every night, tugging him down the same increasingly familiar streets. And sometimes Kano decided to diverge from the path the pull had made for him, exploring the expanse of the streets  _ he _ chose until it was time to go home. Tonight, however, Kano was perfectly content to follow the pull’s favored path, trotting happily along frequently-seen streets as he let the glow of the moon and the flicker of street lamps light his way. 

It wasn’t long until Kano stopped in his tracks, lifting his head to sniff the air as he chased the faint whiff of food he’d caught scent of, trying to figure out which direction it was coming from. He turned in a small circle before making up his mind and following after it, his stomach rumbling unhelpfully as he went. It wasn’t that Shiro didn't feed him _ — _ he left a food and water bowl out for him each night, tucked up against the wall in the kitchen of his apartment. Kano just preferred to do his own hunting most nights, only eating Shiro’s food if his search had turned out to be particularly unsuccessful. 

Oftentimes, however, in a city like this, finding food was no problem. Humans were nothing if not wasteful, and it hardly took more than a quick look into a dumpster to find more food than he could possibly ever eat all by himself. The smell wasn’t leading Kano to a dumpster tonight, though. It was leading him off the main street, into an alley, down towards the section in the middle that was more well-lit than most alleys Kano had ever been in. It was leading him… straight to the feet of a man, sat on an overturned milk carton and leaned up against the wall, eating something with one hand from the cradle of the red and white checkered container held in the other. 

Kano stayed in the shadows as he considered his options, eyeing the stranger up and down. It wouldn’t be too much of a loss for him to leave, go find a dumpster somewhere else and do a little foraging for his meal. But there was food  _ right there, _ and there were few things as satisfying to him as taking his food straight from the hands of humans themselves. As long as the human didn't try to get too handsy, didn't try to exchange his food for pets, then it wouldn’t be a problem. 

So Kano stalked forward slowly until he was sat beside the human’s foot, looking up at him and letting out a soft meow to gain his attention. The human looked up from his food quickly, the startled expression on his face quickly melting away to one of kindness, something that was always nice to see. 

“Well, hello there,” the human said, lowering his food tray a bit as he wiped his hand on his jeans, giving Kano a smile. “Where did you come from?”

Kano meowed again, standing up to step closer and rub up against the human’s leg, turning around once he was done and repeating the action. He looked up as he leaned his weight against him, giving his biggest, most compelling eyes. The human laughed softly, cooing at him as he set the food tray completely in his lap, leaving both hands free. Kano looked away from the human as he took a deep breath, the food so close it was making his mouth water. Just a little more acting, and then the human would either hand over the food willingly or Kano would be close enough to run off with it. Whichever way it happened, he didn't care.

Looking away proved to be a mistake, however, because the next thing he knew, before he even had the chance to rebalance his weight onto his own four paws, there was a hand touching his head. But this hand didn't touch Kano the way most hands did, which was perhaps the reason why he didn't immediately try to claw it off. He tensed up but ultimately didn't move, letting the human drag his hand from the top of his head to the tip of his tail, the touch light and, for once, actually pleasurable. The human repeated the action again, and again, and again, and each time Kano’s eyelids sunk a little lower, his back arched a little higher, and it was eventually enough to pull a purr from deep within his chest. 

“Are you hungry, little kitty?” the human asked eventually, his voice startling Kano’s eyes open. That hand scratched lightly at his head as he looked up at the human, sitting back on his haunches and meowing. The human laughed again, the fingers of one hand moving to scratch behind his ear as the fingers of the other grabbed the paper food tray and set it down in front of him, tapping the side in invitation. “I thought so. There you go, eat up.”

Kano couldn’t help but feel the slightest prickle of disappointment as the hand disappeared, seemingly giving him the chance to eat uninterrupted. He ducked his head and wasted no time in snapping up whatever warm, nice-smelling food was inside the tray, swallowing it down quickly and licking at the bottom once it was all gone before looking back up at the human and meowing again. 

“You  _ were _ hungry, weren’t you?” the human asked, humming softly as the hand came back, this time scooping him up under the chest and lifting him off the ground, setting him gently in the human’s lap a second later. Kano made a vague noise of distress but relaxed as soon as the fingers made their way beneath his chin, scratching lightly. This human had magic hands, Kano decided suddenly, and he would be content to sit in this human’s lap all night if he could. “Are you a stray?”

Well, he wasn’t going to stay if the human was going to insult him. A  _ stray? _ Kano looked far too taken care of to be a stray, he knew that much. He ran into other cats on occasion during his nightly prowls, and he looked nothing like they ever did. Because Kano took care of himself, and Shiro took care of himself, too, which meant both of them were in pretty good shape. But he wasn’t about to correct the human, wasn’t much of a way for him to do so anyway, so he simply butted his head into the palm of his hand, trying to get those fingers at the base of his ears again. 

“I’ve gotta get back to work,” the human said a moment later, both hands coming up at cup Kano’s head before he was being picked up again and set back on the ground. Kano let out an unhappy yowl, setting back on his haunches to look up at him as he stood up off the milk crate and leaned over to collect the food tray from the ground where they’d left it, shaking it lightly in Kano’s direction. “But if you come back here tomorrow at the same time, they’ll be more where this came from.”

And as much as Kano hated being seen by humans, he quite liked the sound of that, so he rubbed up against the human’s shin a final time before darting back into the shadows, already looking forward to coming back the next night. 

Kano should have trusted his instincts. 

Humans were dirty, dirty creatures with no sense of integrity or morals, and he was better off keeping as far away from them as he could. Because he’d shown up again just like the human had told him to, and he admittedly had no idea what time it had been, but Shiro went to bed very consistently and he’d gone straight there just like he had the night before. And yet, there was no human there waiting for him, and more importantly, no food. 

He’d been curled up on the human’s milk crate for a while now, waiting for the human to appear, and his patience was wearing thin. He could be doing so many other things! He could be digging in a dumpster for his own food, instead of sitting here waiting for some human to bring it to him like he was their pet. But when he thought about that human’s magic, magic hands and the way they’d felt running through his fur and scratching beneath his chin, he couldn’t bring himself to get up quite yet. 

And luckily for him, before he could once again debate whether or not it was worth staying here waiting, the metal door to the side of the crate was opening and out came the human, carrying with him the smell of something  _ delicious. _

“Oh good, you’re here!” he said, the door closing with a muffled thud as he walked out and crouched in front of the milk crate, much closer to eye level with Kano as he wafted the tray of food beneath his nose. “Sorry I’m late. I was having Hunk cook you up something special.” 

Kano got to his feet and leaned over the edge of the crate, sniffing at the food held in the human’s hands. It was some kind of fish, covered in a bunch of things he couldn’t identify but wanted to have in his mouth, just from the way they smelled. The human laughed at his interest, sitting on the pavement and setting the food down in front of him. Kano hopped down onto the ground and immediately began to eat, not paying the human any mind.

The human apparently took that as an invitation to reach out and scratch gently at the top of his head, eventually stroking down along his back as Kano ducked his head to take another bite. He’d barely had any humans touch him in general, but especially not while he was eating. He usually took his food off to some hiding place to eat, both to protect it from being stolen from him and because he was most vulnerable while he was eating. But despite all of his previous knowledge and wariness, this human didn't make him feel vulnerable. Even while he was distracted the way he was currently, he somehow knew the human wouldn’t bring him any harm. 

So he let the human pet him as he ate, licking the bottom of the food tray the same way he had the night before when he was done. The human chuckled at that, nudging the tray off to the side with the tip of his shoe. “Damn, you were pretty hungry. I might have to bring you more tomorrow night.” Kano purred at that, the thought of being fed this way every night more alluring than he’d expected. He rubbed himself up against the human’s knee, eyes slitting in pleasure as those warm, gentle hands ran along his side. 

“You have such an interesting pattern,” the human murmured as he stroked him, the thumb of one hand running along the thin strip of white fur that ran from the tip of Kano’s nose to the tip of his tail. The line hadn’t always been there. His fur used to be all black, smooth and silky and dark as night. But then Shiro had gotten in his accident, and the stress of the event had been enough to not only put a streak of white in his own hair but in Kano’s, as well. He didn't have a good idea of what other cats looked like, since he’d only seen so many during his time on the streets, but he’d never considered the stripe to be all that interesting.

The human seemed particularly enamored with it, however, tracing the white line over and over again until Kano’s eyes threatened to close, the repeated motion having him dangerously close to falling asleep. He didn’t mind it as much as he probably should have, the thought of falling asleep right there on the pavement, propped up against the human’s knee as he stroked along his strip of white fur. But those warm, magic hands were enough to make anything seem like a good idea as long as they were involved, and Kano didn’t really see the harm in it. If the human wanted to hurt him he would have done it by now, wouldn’t have spent so much time petting him with delicate fingers and talking to him as if he were a human companion that could talk right back. 

Almost as if the human could read his thoughts, he started to talk again, brows furrowed as if he were deep in thought. “You know what it reminds me of, actually? This little line of white you have along your back? Reminds me of the design on my debit card. I bet it’d line up pretty perfectly.” 

Kano didn’t know what a debit card was or why the human seemed so obsessed with the pattern of his fur, but as long as his hands didn’t stop moving, he didn’t really care what he spent his time talking about. 

“That’d be a pretty funny thing to call you, actually,” the human continued, laughing softly to himself as he used his other hand to scratch beneath Kano’s chin, making him purr loudly. “Do you have a name already? You’re never wearing a collar.”

Kano let out a meow, really the best he could do as far as communication went. He did, in fact, have a name, and didn’t appreciate the human trying to give him another one. But he couldn’t exactly tell the human what his name was, and humans were well-known for doing whatever they wanted, especially when animals were involved. So he listened helplessly as the human made a self-assured noise, seemingly pleased with Kano’s response. 

“Of course you don’t have a name, you’re a stray. Well, that’s okay. I’m gonna call you Debit now. And you can call me Lance, ‘cause that’s my name.”

This Lance seemed very confident in Kano’s ability to understand him, and while it would seem foolish to other humans, Kano appreciated the effort. And now Kano didn’t have to call him “the human” anymore, which was nice but certainly different than he was used to. He’d never learned a human’s name before, besides Shiro’s. He’d never interacted with a human long enough for it to happen, but even if he had, he was sure most humans wouldn’t bother with sharing such information. Whether they thought he could understand them or not, most didn’t offer up bits of information that Kano could do nothing with but memorize. If anything, they simply told him to go away, or threatened to hurt him, or called him pretty and tried to pet him. There were very few attempts at conversation with him, probably because they knew it would be one-sided. But Lance didn’t seem to care, didn’t seem bothered by the fact that the best Kano could offer was a meow, or perhaps a hiss if the situation was right.

He was so unbothered, in fact, that he continued to talk the entire time they sat there, fingers working their magic against Kano’s fur as he and his nice voice rambled on about things too human-oriented for Kano to properly follow and stopped intermittently to ask Kano questions, predictably interpreting Kano’s answering meow as whatever answer he was hoping to hear. And Kano didn’t mind it, not as much as he thought he might. In fact, he was having quite a nice time, up until the back door of the building slammed open and a tall, buff man filled the empty doorway, sending Kano skittering back into the shadows with a startled sound. 

“Breaks over, Lance!” the man said, entirely too loud but not unkind. “Time to get back to work.” Lance whined softly and looked around for Kano, clearly unable to find him as he stood up and grabbed the food tray off the ground, dusting off his pants. 

“I’ll be back again tomorrow,” Lance said as he followed the buff man back inside, turning around just long enough to throw an unaimed smile into the alley, clearly hoping Kano would see it. “And I won’t be late this time!” 

Kano waited until the door has closed behind them until he crept back into the light of the alley, meowing softly at the door before turning and heading back into the darkness of the city.

If Lance was coming back the next night, then Kano would, too. 

When Kano came to the alley for the third night in a row, it was easy to figure out that he’d beaten Lance there again. He was prepared to curl up on the milk carton and wait for him like he had the night before, until he got closer and noticed that the big, metal door that was normally closed was propped open, the sound of muffled voices and the smell of warm food floating into the alley from inside. 

Kano barely hesitated before slipping through the crack in the door, stepping out from the cold, wet pavement of the alley and into the warm, dry building in front of him. He paused just inside the door, sitting back and taking a second to look around. He couldn’t see much at his height aside from the underside of counters and the bottom of various boxes and rectangles sat in the middle of the floor, propped up on wheels. He thought he could see loaves of bread inside one of the boxes, which reminded him of his search for food and got him back on his feet again, urging him to explore deeper.

He couldn’t see any feet that belonged to humans, nor could he hear any voices that belonged to humans that sounded particularly close to him, so he didn't bother to hide as he crept forward, following the scent of the food to where it was strongest. He didn't know what kind of building he was in or what would happen if he was caught inside it, but the smell of food and the lack of signs that humans were nearby proved to be enough to convince him not to worry about it. He’d find the food, eat a little, and then go back out and wait for Lance, and no one would ever know.

Kano looked around until he found something short enough to jump on top of, leaping from there onto a long, silver counter made of metal that was pushed against the wall right next to him. The surface of the counter was cold beneath his paws as he landed almost silently, immediately faced with more trays of food than he could ever hope to eat. Some of the trays were grouped together and arranged onto larger, black plastic trays that were pushed together underneath a light, which was emitting so much warmth it made Kano want to curl up beneath it and take a nap. But he couldn’t do that unless he wanted to get caught, so he focused back on the food closer to the edge of the counter where he’d landed. These trays were far less in number, and they weren’t grouped together, which meant they didn't look as important as the other ones. 

So Kano picked the one that smelled the best and ducked his head, snapping up whatever warm food was inside as fast as he could. He split his attention between his meal and the room around him, listening carefully for the sound of someone who could come in and catch him. But he was apparently a little more distracted by his meal than he thought, because as he finished eating and raised his head, licking away the crumbs, he found himself face-to-face with a wide-eyed human, staring at him as if he’d never seen a cat before. 

Kano didn't move as he looked the human over, inspecting him carefully. This wasn’t either of the humans he’d seen here before. He looked kind of similar to the buff human Kano had seen the night before, since they were both wearing dirty aprons and strips of fabric around their forehead. But this human had much darker skin and much kinder eyes, and he didn't look like he was about to kick Kano out. He just looked confused, and startled, as if seeing a cat in his building was the last thing he expected to see. 

They both jumped at the sound of a door swishing open and shut again somewhere behind the human but neither of them moved, still staring at each other as if challenging the other to look away first.

“Hunk?” a voice asked from the other side of the room, a voice that Kano quickly identified as Lance’s. “Where ya at, buddy? Table 6 needs another serving of fries, apparently. They’re being very loud about it. Nyma told me to come back and tell you.”

“Lance,” the human, Hunk, said, eyes never leaving Kano’s. Lance had mentioned this human before, last night. He was the one who’d cooked the special meal that had made Lance late, which meant he was probably the human that cooked all the food for the other humans. “They’re gonna have to wait a little bit. I’ve gotta make up a new batch. A cat just ate the last serving.”

“A cat?” Lance asked, his voice growing louder as he moved towards them. “Come on, Hunk, don’t joke around. They might honestly get in a fist fight with Rolo if they don’t get fries in the next five minutes.”

“Lance, there’s a goddamn cat in my kitchen,” Hunk said, standing back up to his full height and holding out a tentative hand in Kano’s direction, letting him lick curiously over the backs of his fingers. “Would I ever joke about that?”

Kano looked away from Hunk when Lance rounded the corner, meowing at him in greeting when their eyes met. “Debit?” Lance said, squinting at him as he moved to stand beside Hunk, reaching out to scratch beneath his chin almost mindlessly. “How the hell did you get in here?”

“You know this cat?” Hunk asked, giving Lance a strange look. “And you named it  _ Debit?” _

“Yeah!” Lance said, nodding as he smiled as him, stroking along Kano’s stripe again. “He looks kinda like my debit card, you know? I thought it fit. And he hangs out around the alley out back. I’ve seen him the past couple of nights on my break, and I’ve brought him food. I’d like to think we’re pretty good friends at this point.”

“He’s gonna get attached to you if you keep feeding him like that,” Hunk said, looking at Kano distrustfully as he arched into Lance’s scratches, purring softly. 

“So? What’s the harm in that?” Lance asked, cupping Kano’s face with his hands and rubbing his thumbs at the base of his ears, making Kano’s eyelids droop. 

“You can’t take him home! He could have diseases!” Hunk said, gesturing at Kano with a wild hand. 

“Look at his sweet little face,” Lance said as Kano opened his eyes to glare to Hunk, offended. He did  _ not _ have diseases. “You think a little baby like this has diseases? I don’t think so, Hunk.”

“Yes, because that’s exactly how that works,” Hunk sighed, rolling his eyes at him.

“Is Sal gone for the night?” Lance asked, completely ignoring him. 

“Yeah,” Hunk said distrustfully, eyeing him. “Why?”

“I want a serving buddy,” Lance said, reaching down to scoop Kano up under the tummy and lift him up onto his shoulders. Kano wobbled a little as Lance set him down, unused to the uneven, shifting terrain but gaining balance as he lifted his tail, meowing at Hunk before settling down and draping himself across Lance’s shoulders, purring. 

“Lance,” Hunk said, staring at both of them with wide eyes. Lance’s shoulders were even taller than the counter he’d been on before, and he could see so much from up here. Hunk was still taller than Lance, though, and Kano wondered what it’d be like to ride on  _ his _ shoulders. He’d probably be able to see everything. “You can’t be serious.”

“Deadly,” Lance replied, the smile evident in his voice as he stepped forward and grabbed one of the black trays Kano had avoided before, balancing it on his hand and turning to leave the room again. “Now, about those fries. I’m sure table 6 is getting very impatient. Chop, chop, Mr. Chef!”

“You better hope someone doesn’t report you,” Hunk muttered, the sounds of shuffling starting up behind them as Lance approached the same doors he’d appeared out of, shifting the tray to the side as he pushed through them. And on the other side of the doors was… a place Kano recognized. He’d been here before, he  _ knew _ he had, but this was the first time he’d ever entered a building before, so how? Why did this place feel as familiar and comforting to him as the apartment where Shiro lived?

It was dark in the room Lance had taken him into, so they walked past a lot of people without any of them noticing Kano along for the ride. It was possible that no one would have noticed him at all if Lance hadn’t have called attention to him every time he delivered one of those black trays full of food to a table, telling the people seated there about his helper friend and letting them scratch at Kano’s head before returning back to what was apparently his job, taking orders from these sitting humans and delivering them to Hunk for him to prepare before giving them back to Lance for him to deliver. 

It didn't make much sense to Kano, really. He thought humans only gave food to animals and the smaller, noisier humans that had pointless little hands kept curled up in fists, but apparently they gave food to big humans, too. Why they couldn’t get the food themselves Kano didn't understand, and why Lance seemed so satisfied, so  _ happy,  _ even, being made to deliver food to his lazy counterparts was even more of a mystery. 

But he supposed it was kind of fun to ride along on Lance’s shoulders and watch as he moved around the dark space, giving Kano the occasional scratch beneath the chin and spreading wide, uninhibited smiles across the faces of practically everyone he talked to. The humans here were kind of loud and scary and loose in a way Kano wasn’t used to seeing, and he didn't know what was wrong with them. But Lance didn't seem worried about them, and he seemed to be able to handle them well, even when they talked too loud and leaned in a little too close. 

By the time Lance took his last order back to Hunk and ducked into a small room just off of the kitchen to grab his things, Kano’s tail was twitching impatiently. They were still inside so he couldn’t tell what time it was, but he knew he’d been out with Lance much longer than normal and there probably wasn’t much time for him to roam the city before he needed to be back at Shiro’s. It wasn’t that he didn't like Lance or spending time with him, but he enjoyed walking the city streets too much to let all his time be taken up by a human. 

Lance carried Kano back through the kitchen and bid farewell to Hunk before using one hand to scoop him up again and set him on the ground. “Thanks for spending the night with me, little buddy,” he said, rubbing Kano’s head between his ears. “It was fun having you around. Probably can’t do it again, though. If Sal finds out, there’s a very good chance he’ll fire me.” Kano didn't know what that meant but he tipped his head to lick at Lance’s palm reassuringly, meowing at him. Lance laughed softly and let Kano lick him, a small smile on his face as he watched. “I’ll see you here again tomorrow, right?”

Kano meowed again and rubbed up against Lance’s leg, the tip of his tail flicking back and forth in the air behind him. Lance let out another laugh and nodded, rubbing his head one more time before standing up and pulling on his jacket. “Alright, Debit. See you tomorrow, then.” And then he turned and started walking down the alley, whistling softly to himself as he went. Kano watched him for a second before turning the other way and darting away, heading off into the night. 

Usually, the snippets of memories Shiro was allowed to see from Kano’s adventures every night were nothing extraordinary. There were flashes of black-blue sky, flashes of the brown-orange concrete lit by orange street lamps, flashes of other animals and stumbling human feet at a distance and occasionally the blue-black green-black of a dumpster when he went foraging. But lately, they’d been different. Lately, they’d been flashes of the same half-lit alleyway, the same milk crate, the same rusted metal backdoor. There’d been flashes of red and white checkered food trays and the same pair of beat up sneakers, fond memories of warm, brown hands and kind, brown eyes. It felt so  _ familiar _ to him, everything about it. The memories danced around behind his eyelids and tingled in the back of his brain, screaming at him that he knew that place and he knew that face and he’d seen of it all before. But he just… couldn’t put his finger on it, no matter how many times he played the snippets over in his brain. 

He figured it didn't matter much. The things Kano got up to were none of his business as long as he kept up his end of the deal, even if the things he’d been seeing lately were different than usual. Maybe the familiarity he was feeling was leftover emotion from when Kano had been in control. He clearly recognized the place, after all, considering he kept going back. 

But Kano’s time was his own and Shiro felt guilty for even being allowed glimpses into it, for feeling as if he knew any of Kano’s places as well as his own. They were different, sought comfort in different things, and Shiro felt a bit foolish for considering that their paths might ever cross. 

The next night when Kano came back, things were immediately different. 

There was the usual feeding and petting and one-sided conversation while Lance lounged against the brick wall, but his hands lingered a little longer than usual and his voice was a little softer and he fed Kano a little more than he usually did. It was different, sure, but Kano wasn’t worried about it. What did he have to complain about? Lance’s hands were so soft and gentle every time they touched him, and his voice was pretty to listen to, and he was  _ always _ in favor of being given more food. 

But once Lance’s break was over and that large, scary man came back to usher him inside, Lance cupped Kano’s face in his palms and smiled at him and asked him to stay until his shift was over. And Kano could see how important it was to him, so he meowed and licked over Lance’s palm and settled down onto the milk crate to wait as Lance went back inside and finished up his work. It was incredibly boring being on this side of it, waiting around instead of riding on his shoulders, being a part of it. He jumped down quite a few times to wander around the darkened alley and chase mice in an attempt to break up the time, but he came back to the milk crate as soon as he was done, returning to waiting as patiently as he could. 

And eventually Lance came bursting out of the door again, a jacket slung over his arm and his eyes wide as he looked around the alley, features slackening when he saw Kano still stretched out across the top of the milk crate. “I didn't expect you to still be here,” Lance said breathlessly as he approached, a wide smile spreading across his lips as he squatted down next to him, reaching out to scratch his head. 

Kano purred softly and nuzzled into his palm, the tip of his tail flicking. He wasn’t sure why Lance had wanted him to wait, or why he looked so pleased by the fact that he did, but it was worth the boredom just to see the look on his face. Kano wasn’t often a fan of humans, but he couldn’t deny that he’d taken a liking to this human in particular, and if waiting around for an hour made him look this happy then Kano would do it without question. 

Lance pet him for a few more moments before pulling on his jacket and bending over to scoop Kano up, tucking him against his chest in the cradle of his arms as he started down the alley. Kano meowed softly in confusion, trying to get his feet under him so he could get up and look around, try to pay attention to where they were going. But he was solidly on his back, and when he wiggled around too much Lance’s hand came up to calm him, petting over his stomach and beneath his chin, his voice cooing soft, comforting words at him. 

It was enough to convince Kano to settle down, his eyes slipping shut as he cuddled up to the warmth of Lance’s chest and let his hands work their magic. The cadence of Lance’s footsteps was a gentle, repetitive rhythm that threatened to lull him into sleep, muting the instinct to be alert and aware until it was a dull itch in the back of his mind, drowned out by Lance’s body heat and the scratch of his nails. 

It was likely why he didn't notice the apartment building Lance was approaching, or pay much attention to the sound of the door unlocking, or register that they had stepped inside until he was being upturned from Lance’s warm, safe embrace and placed gently onto a surface he recognized: a bed.

Kano’s eyes flew open as he sat up, watching Lance pull off his jacket and shoes before climbing onto the bed next to him, his fingers reaching out almost absentmindedly to bury themselves back in Kano’s fur. Kano pushed off the bed and rested his front paws on Lance’s hip, ears perked up and tail swishing as he looked around the room, taking in the details, cursing himself for not paying attention on the way here. He’d never been inside another human’s living space, and it looked so different from Shiro’s that Kano couldn’t help but be interested in it. But he was admittedly more interested in how to get  _ out _ of it, because he couldn’t stay here. He shouldn’t have let Lance bring him in the first place, should’ve known as soon as Lance came back and scooped Kano into his arms, but he definitely couldn’t stay. If Shiro woke up the next morning and found himself in some other human’s bed, Kano would never again be allowed to roam. 

Lance gently grabbed Kano’s paws and tugged him back down onto the bed at the same time he caught sight of an open window across the room, one Lance would hopefully forget about and not close so Kano could use it as his escape later. He felt considerably more calm after finding a way out, so he let Lance loop his arm over Kano’s back and pull him into his chest, index finger stroking along the line on his back as if it held the answer to some question Lance desperately wanted to know the answer to. 

If Kano wanted to escape he’d have to wait until Lance was asleep, so he cuddled into Lance’s side and let a rumbling purr begin deep in his chest, entirely because he was settling down to wait and not at all because he enjoyed feeling Lance’s heat pressed in around him, his fingers drawing all the tension from his body as he was once again coaxed towards sleep, every second a battle to stay awake. 

Time slipped away from him like this, and he didn't know how long had passed but eventually he jerked awake, stilling for a second to confirm that Lance had fallen asleep behind him before slowly beginning the process of wiggling himself free. Lance’s arm was a warm, pleasant weight across his back, but the anxiety of how much time had passed and what Shiro would do to him if he didn't get home in time was enough to convince him it was time to leave. He carefully pulled himself out from beneath Lance’s arm and hopped down from the bed, scaling the shelf beside the window before jumping up onto the ledge and out onto the landing of the fire escape. 

He could already see tinges of pinks and reds and oranges lighting up the horizon as he clambered down the escape and landed gracefully on the ground beneath it, which meant he had very little time to get himself home before Shiro would be waking up naked on the street. He hurried back to the apartment as fast as he could, darting along the walls of buildings to avoid the humans that had slowly started to fill the street, some looking awake and energized as they jogged down the sidewalk and others looking groggy and disoriented and as if they could barely keep themselves up, barely knew where they were even going. 

He made it back in what had to be record time, jumping back in through Shiro’s living room window and sprinting towards the bed as he felt Shiro’s consciousness getting restless, threatening to wake up. He bounded up onto the mattress and curled up into a ball, exhaustion washing over him the second he let his eyes slide shut. He’d never had such a close call before, and the stress of it melted away as he was taken over by sleep, partially because the experience had truly tired him and partially because he had no choice. But it didn't really matter to him, anyway, why the sleeping happened; going to sleep was always the second best part of his day.

Going back the next night was… scary. The only thing Kano hated more than humans was disappointing them, and he was sure Lance would be disappointed waking up to find that Kano had left him in the night. 

He liked Lance, liked his warm hands and his nice voice and his kind eyes, and he didn't want Lance to be upset with him. The only human he’d ever had the urge to please before had been Shiro, for pretty obvious reasons, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about his sudden and wholly encompassing need to make sure Lance stayed and didn't run away from him. But the need was there, and it was more distracting than he would’ve liked. 

But Lance was there to meet him the same as he was most nights, a tray of food waiting on the ground beside his feet. And the smile on his face didn't look any less happy or welcoming than it normally did, even as Kano approached cautiously, sniffing distrustfully at the food as if Lance was going to trick him. Lance simply let him have it, his fingers scratching behind his ears the same way they always did, his voice coming out in a nice, soft little tune that helped Kano to relax without him even realizing. 

“I get it,” Lance said after a while, once Kano’s food was almost gone. “You’re wild, and I can respect that. We’ll have to take this a little slower.” Kano wasn’t exactly sure he’d describe himself as  _ wild, _ but it didn't really matter as long as Lance wasn’t upset with him. 

And as the days went on slowly, each of their nightly meetings going exactly the way Kano remembered them going with only the occasional weird event that Kano could easily write off, he only reaffirmed the fact that Lance wasn’t upset with him. If anything, Lance seemed even more generous with his time and his rubs and his meals, like maybe he didn't want to lose Kano just like Kano didn't want to lose him. 

So Kano kept coming back, and Lance kept doing everything in his power to please him, and really it wasn’t Kano’s fault he didn't realize sooner. Maybe he should’ve noticed, and maybe he shouldn’t have written off all those weird things Lance did, and maybe he shouldn’t have let any of this happen at  _ all,  _ but  _ really it wasn’t his fault. _

Humans were evil, and he knew this. He’d let himself forget, had let himself get distracted, but never again. Humans were evil, and Lance had somehow managed to use Kano’s trust and commit the worst possible act against him.

He’d been  _ domesticated. _

He hadn’t really had a word for it before, but it was so glaringly obvious now that he couldn’t call it anything else. Lance had been _training_ him, conditioning him, reaffirming him, teaching him how to be a docile little housecat. And Kano had _let_ _him,_ had been completely oblivious the entire time and had done every little thing Lance wanted him to do like a _docile little housecat._

And the worst part of it all was that Kano was far, far less bothered by this than he should have been. Lance had gained Kano’s trust and formed a bond between them so strong that Kano felt comfortable enough around him to fall asleep, and Lance had scooped up his sleeping body and carried him home after his shift, and now Kano was back in Lance’s bed, curled up against his chest with what could only be a  _ collar _ around his neck. And all Kano did was open his eyes and look up at where Lance was reading a book beside him, mewing softly and waiting for Lance’s fingers to dutifully find their way beneath his chin, scratching lightly and pulling a soft, happy rumble from his chest.

It was possible that they’d trained each other, and that made the whole situation a little easier to accept. 

Lance was as warm and soft and kind as he’d ever been, even with his attention split between Kano and the pages in front of him, and Kano realized the true danger of domestication when Lance eventually drifted off to sleep beside him and Kano, rather than waiting and using it as an opportunity to escape, batted the book gently from Lance’s chest and onto the floor before taking its place, curling up on top of him and making himself comfortable. 

He could wake up and go back home later. For now, he wanted to enjoy a few more minutes with his human.

Shiro’s first thought the next morning was that he was not in his house. 

The wall across from his bleary eyes was not the one he was used to seeing, white and mostly bare, decorated with a sole table where he set his phone, his prosthetic, and his glasses during the night. It was crowded with things, plastered with posters and obscured by a large, overflowing dresser, the top of which was littered with little figurines and seashells and loose papers hanging dangerously over the edge. Shiro’s phone and prosthetic and glasses were nowhere to be seen, and that was one of many clues Shiro needed to conclude he had not woken up where he was supposed to. 

The second was the light pressure around his neck, one that revealed itself to be a collar when Shiro carefully reached up with his left hand and felt it, fingering it lightly. He hadn’t gone to bed wearing a collar, which meant there were only a few reasons he could be wearing one now, and he figured he probably had a pretty good guess as to what had happened. 

Especially with the help of clue number three, which was that Shiro was clearly,  _ undeniably _ laying on top of another person. Naked. Wearing nothing but a collar that had been fastened around the neck of a cat just hours before. He tried not to blame Kano for this, he really did. If he had the opportunity to fall asleep with another person to keep him company in bed he would take it, even at the risk of exposing Kano. But falling asleep to a human and waking up to a cat was a lot easier to explain away than falling asleep to a cat and waking up to a  _ completely naked human. _

Which was why Shiro had to leave before the person he was laying on woke up, because that was  _ not _ an encounter he wanted to have today, or any other day for that matter. 

But of course Kano had chosen to fall asleep on top of whoever he was currently crushing, and trying to maneuver himself off of them with the use of one arm while also trying to keep his hips respectfully up and away was much easier said than done. So by the time Shiro had pushed himself onto the bed next to them and looked at his victim’s face, realizing to his horror that it was someone he  _ knew, _ said victim was stirring awake, making soft, sleepy noises in the back of his throat. And Shiro would’ve taken the chance to run if not for Kano  _ screeching _ at him in the back of his head, his threats of what he would do if Shiro left right then coming across loud and clear. So Shiro stayed where he was, covering himself with the sheets and sitting about as far away from Lance as he could get, cursing everything that had led him to this moment as Lance opened his eyes and looked straight at him.

He really didn't know the protocol for this situation. Was he supposed to speak first? Was he supposed to let Lance say something? He wasn’t sure, and Lance was just staring at him, his lips parted gently as he looked at Shiro in shock, clearly struggling to wrap his mind around what he was seeing. Shiro should probably be the one to break the silence, then. 

“Uh… hey, Lance,” he said, immediately cringing once the words were out of his mouth. There were much more pressing things to address here, and yet Shiro had gone with the simplest and most awkward greeting he could’ve ever come up with. Great.

“Shiro,” Lance said, his facial expression not changing in the slightest as he addressed him, eyes flickering up and down between Shiro’s red, openly mortified face and his bare chest. “Are you  _ naked?” _

See, Lance and Shiro knew each other, but  _ barely. _ They worked at the same bar, but they worked completely different jobs and completely different shifts. Shiro, affectionately dubbed an “old man” by many of his coworkers, worked the morning shift as a bartender, coming in to open at eleven before ending his shift at seven, giving him plenty of time to go home, eat dinner, relax, and take care of himself before going to bed at nine. Lance’s evening shift as a waiter overlapped by thirty minutes, and most days they only managed a casual passing wave before Shiro was leaving and Lance was being ushered into the madness. 

They’d never really talked, they’d never worked together, and Shiro didn't know much about him beyond his name and the way he’d gotten the job, which was through his best friend Hunk who worked in the kitchen. 

And now, Shiro was sitting naked in his bed, a rather incriminating cat collar still wrapped around his neck as he tried to figure out how he was going to explain his way out of this one.

“Uh… yeah,” Shiro said, pulling the covers up closer, trying to cover more of his naked chest. “But, um… I can explain? I can explain.”

Shiro wasn't aware that Kano had ever gone to Shiro’s place of employment, but he must have. There was no other way his and Lance’s paths would’ve crossed, since nearly all of Lance’s nights were filled with work at the bar. And Shiro had never known Kano to be fond of humans, but that must have changed, too, or else there was no logical reason for Kano to be forcing him to endure this horribly awkward situation. He’d have a lot of questions for him later as to what happened and how they’d gotten so close and why he didn't warn Shiro about this apparently very distinct possibility, but for now he had to… address the more pressing conflict. 

Lance was still staring at him, less in shock and more in confusion, like he couldn’t understand exactly what he was looking at or dealing with. And… fair. That was fair. It was hard enough for  _ Shiro _ to process what was happening, and he had much more information than Lance. 

“You’re wearing Debit’s collar,” Lance said after a minute, slowly sitting up to lean against the wall behind him. 

“Debit?” Shiro asked, the name throwing him for a loop. He’d assumed Lance had probably given Kano a name, especially since he was wearing a  _ collar, still, like an idiot, _ but he hadn’t quite expected  _ that. _

“Yes, Debit! My cat! My cat who was here and is no longer here and whose collar you’re currently wearing!” 

There was something strange and a little concerning that fluttered through Shiro’s chest at Lance calling Kano  _ his cat, _ which Shiro promptly shoved away and ignored. Now was  _ not  _ the time. 

“Is this some kind of weird kink?” Lance continued when Shiro didn't say anything, his features pinched and soured in a way Shiro had never seen. “Where you break into someone’s house and kill their cat and wear its collar and then get off in a stranger’s bed? Is that what this is?”

Shiro hadn’t thought there was any explanation for this situation that could sound worse than the truth, but Lance had fucking  _ found it. _ “What? No!” Shiro said quickly, shaking his head and holding out his hand to placate him, immediately regretting it when it made the sheet that was covering him fall and pool at his waist. He yelped and scrambled to pull it back up, cheeks impossibly red. “That’s not even close!”

“Then explain!” Lance yelled, reaching up to pull at the messy strands of his hair. “Because I’m really confused and a little scared and maybe a tiny bit turned on because there’s a hot, naked man in my bed wearing a collar!”

Shiro made a soft choking noise, his skin heating and his flush spreading down to his mostly-covered chest as he tried to gather his thoughts and focus, his eyes flitting away from Lance’s flustered face. “Right. Okay. Well… I am your cat? Kind of? In a way?” 

The silence that came after stretched on and on and on, Shiro staring at the wrinkled sheets covering his lap as Lance did who knew what. Lance was the one to break the silence first, a noise that Shiro didn't have a word for leaving his chest before he choked out some words right after. “I’m  _ really _ gonna need more than that.”

“ _ Right,” _ Shiro said again, blowing out a small breath as he tried to figure out how best to explain. He’d never really had to put any of this into words before, and… maybe he didn’t this time, either. It was maybe a cop out, showing instead of telling, but it was probably easier and more convincing if Shiro just…  _ became _ Lance’s cat instead of claiming he could. “It might be easier if I… show you?”

“If you show me,” Lance repeated, his eyes a little glossed over as if he were having an out-of-body experience. “Show me… that you can turn into my cat?”

“Yeah,” Shiro said, nodding and trying to keep himself from wincing. When Lance said it like  _ that _ it made it sound even more stupid than just saying it out loud. But Kano had caught onto Shiro’s drift and was now shoving his consciousness against Shiro’s with every ounce of his power, the way he used to before they figured out their schedule of cohabitation. And so, remembering the amount of effort it took to fight Kano off, Shiro didn’t wait for Lance’s response before he gave in, letting Kano’s consciousness surge over his own and smother him into submission, pushing him down and away until he was no longer the one in control. 

The look on Lance’s face was one Kano had never seen there before. He didn’t fully comprehend human emotions and the way they were displayed on a good day, so he had no hope of deciphering them now. 

Shiro’s consciousness lay still and dormant in the back of his mind, the same way it always did, nothing the writhing, scratching force that Kano knew his own to be. The only difference Kano could detect was the strong emotions lingering thick and heavy on his tongue from Shiro’s brief period of being awake, emotions that Kano did understand if only because he technically shared them. They tasted like embarrassment and panic and maybe a little bit of shame, and Kano cursed himself gently. He had hoped the trade-off would be better balanced, but it seemed that in his attempt to please one human he only managed to greatly upset them both. 

Human affairs were greatly complicated things, as he had come to discover, and he didn’t know how to navigate them quite as well as he thought. 

But Lance’s fingers still came to scratch beneath his chin when Kano got closer and sat back, making an inquisitive meow in his direction. And his eyes, although his features were twisted up into some look he couldn’t understand, were as warm and kind as they’d always been, staring down at him from behind too-long strands of unkempt hair.

So Kano nuzzled up to him for a few minutes, purring softly as some of the unfamiliarity faded from Lance’s expression, before slowly releasing his control, letting his consciousness slip back and Shiro’s sweep forward, taking over once again.

Shiro came back to find himself pressed up against Lance’s side, as naked as fucking ever with Lance’s fingers tucked into his hair. Shiro scrambled away and hurried to cover himself again as Lance let out a startled noise, jerking his hand back. Shiro tried not to be too offended by that, his cheeks reddening once again as he averted his eyes from Lance’s face, wishing they could have this conversation once he’d gotten some fucking  _ clothes. _

Lance’s expression didn’t look as angry or scared as it had before. Now it was more… interested, and relieved, and still very, very confused. It took a few more moments before either of them spoke, Shiro honestly afraid of what Lance’s reaction would be. Very few people knew about what he could do, and the situation had never been this...  _ out of his hands _ before. 

“So… you’re a cat?” Lance asked eventually, his voice a bit rough. Whether that was from sitting in silence of just having woken up, Shiro wasn’t sure. 

“Not really, no,” Shiro said, shaking his head. “It’s more like… I share a physical form with one.”

“But you have two different bodies,” Lance said.

“And we have two different minds,” Shiro told him. “So it’s like… taking a person and a cat and mashing them together into a body that can be both.”

“So you’re not him when you turn?” Lance asked, tilting his head.

“No,” Shiro said, shaking his head. “When he’s in control, I go to sleep. And then once he’s done, I wake up again. The most I ever get is little snippets of memories and emotions, normally the strongest or most recent from any given night.”

“So… you’re Shiro during the day and then you go to sleep and Debit comes out during the night?”

“Yeah,” Shiro said, unable to keep himself from smiling when he heard that damn name again.  _ Debit. _ “And his name’s Kano, by the way. Although I’m sure he doesn’t mind you calling him Debit.”

“Kano,” Lance said, looking as if he was rolling it around in his mouth, getting used to it. “Have the two of you always been this way?”

Shiro nodded, biting at his bottom lip. “Yeah. My mother tells me I used to be mostly cat when I was a little kid. Kano has always been the, uh… the more dominant one. It took us a long time to figure out how to share.”

Lance digested the new information in silence, his jaw twitching slightly as he stared down at the sheets, only barely covering his legs with the way Shiro had them pulled up to his chest. Shiro wasn’t sure what he was expecting the response to be, but he was  _ scared. _ He probably should’ve guessed that something like this would happen eventually, but he hadn’t prepared himself for it. He didn’t know what would happen if the wrong people found out, or if he could really trust Lance to keep all of this a secret. 

But when Lance looked up at him again, the look the Shiro was used to seeing on his face was back, maybe a little brighter than usual. And there was a smile twitching at the corner of his lips, just barely kept at bay as Lance’s eyes trailed over him, snagging on the collar before returning to his face. “Well. I guess I won’t try and keep you as a pet, then. You, and Kano, for that matter, don’t have to come back. We can just… forget this ever happened. If that’s even possible.”

And it was better than anything Shiro could have ever hoped for, but… he didn’t need Kano’s overflowing emotions to know it didn’t feel  _ right. _ He did appreciate not being kept as a pet, but… that didn’t mean neither of them wanted to see him again. “Well…” Shiro said, moving to scratch the back of his neck before remembering the sheet and clutching it to his chest again, blushing and hoping Lance hadn’t noticed. “I don’t know. Kano really likes you, and… he normally has pretty good taste.” 

“Oh, yeah?” Lance asked, raising a curious eyebrow at him. 

“Yeah,” Shiro said, giving him a small nod. “The only other person he likes is me.”

Lance let out a laugh at that, a grin curling across his lips. “So what are you suggesting?”

“Well… Kano and I had a deal that he had to be back home every morning so I could wake up in my bed and not some random place in town. But maybe… maybe Kano could spend the night here with you more often if both of you would like that. And I’ll just… bring over some clothes sometime.”

Lance let out another laugh, this one sounding closer to a giggle as his eyes trailed teasingly over the exposed bits of Shiro’s chest, the rest hidden dutifully by the sheet. “That sounds pretty good to me. Although… I can’t say I’d mind if you forgot about the clothes.”

Shiro made a soft sound in the back of his throat, cheeks and chest flushing. Was Lance seriously  _ flirting _ with him? Minutes after finding out he spent half of his life as a cat? “I have to walk home,” Shiro said, immediately cursing himself. He couldn’t have come up with something equally as flirty,  _ no. _ He had to go and sound like a  _ loser. _

Lance smiled and rolled his eyes, sliding out of bed and walking over to the overflowing dresser Shiro had woken up to this morning, digging around inside the drawers before tossing a few articles of clothing at him. “Here. These are the biggest things I have.”

Shiro let them land on the bed in front of him, his frazzled brain finally registering that his only available hand was busy preserving his modesty, not willing to let go of the sheet a third time. “Thanks,” Shiro said, watching Lance tug on his own pants over his boxers before heading towards the door, thankfully giving Shiro some privacy. (Shiro somehow hadn’t really noticed that  _ Lance _ was partially naked, too. Shiro had slept on top of him like that, with the only thing between their dicks a thin layer of fabric. Fuck.) 

Lance paused halfway out the door, hand on the door frame as he leaned back into the room, meeting Shiro’s eyes. “Maybe bring your prosthetic with you, too, hot stuff. I have a feeling you’re more comfortable with it on.” 

When it came to being around people Shiro didn’t know that well, Lance was absolutely right. And if Shiro was going to be waking up here and making the walk back to his apartment, likely passing a decent amount of people along the way, then he definitely, definitely wanted to bring it along. “Yeah, I will. Thanks.”

Lance nodded, raising an eyebrow a little. “Of course. You need any help with anything?”

“No, I’ve got it,” Shiro said, shaking his head as he tried to will his blush away. God, he hadn’t blushed this much since middle school. “But thanks for offering. I appreciate it.”

“No problem,” Lance said, his more serious, open smile melting away into something more mischievous as he made his way out the door again, his laugh audible in the edges of his voice. “Maybe you can think about bringing some other stuff, too. How much have you got in your apartment?”

He was already gone by the time Shiro realized what he meant, sputtering quietly to himself as Lance laughed from somewhere down the hall, clearly pleased with himself. The answer to his question was honestly not much, but Lance didn’t need to know that. Shiro had only woken up naked in his bed  _ once, _ he wasn’t sure they were quite ready to move in together. Not yet, anyway. Clearly Shiro had no idea what was in store for the future. 

**Author's Note:**

> featuring the art from my amazing partner griffonskies!!! check out their [tumblr post](https://griffonskies.tumblr.com/post/190830821256/debit-or-creditby-professionalmess-art-post-for) and leave comments/kudos below if u enjoyed!!


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